the ronto



Rontos are beasts of burden used by moisture farmers and Jawas on Tatooine. They stand about 15 feet tall and are extremely strong. A ronto’s sense of smell is excellent but they have very poor eyesight so they are easily startled. These massive creatures have a very gentle disposition and are easy to train.
I started working on my book about a year before A New Hope special edition was released. Once I saw previews of the ronto, I knew it would have to be included. The process for writing my book is as follows. Spend many hours inventing a figure and making it look right. Take it apart and figure out how I made it. Refold it. Draw the diagrams while folding a new copy of the figure (so I have a better idea what It looks like on paper). And, finally, celebrate by triumphantly sending the original and the new copy to my mom. (As payment for so much inspiration and support at those times when I wanted to toss the whole project, she got to keep all of the original figures). It wasn’t hard to create the ronto figure, the beak and distinctive ears being the most difficult part to design. During this time, I made the trip to New York to see the opening of the special edition with my mom. I brought the newly created ronto and started writing the chapter for it but had to return to California before I could finish. To save myself a stamp I left the original with Mom and brought the half finished copy back. After all, there were only a few steps left to go and I had created it. It should be easy to remember how to make the last few folds and diagram them, right? After a week of frustration and a ream of mutilated paper, I had to call my mom and ask her to mail the original back to me so I could figure out how I did it.
It wasn’t hard to create the ronto figure, the beak and distinctive ears being the most difficult part to design. During this time, I made the trip to New York to see the opening of the special edition with my mom. I brought the newly created ronto and started writing the chapter for it but had to return to California before I could finish. To save myself a stamp I left the original with Mom and brought the half finished copy back. After all, there were only a few steps left to go and I had created it. It should be easy to remember how to make the last few folds and diagram them, right? After a week of frustration and a ream of mutilated paper, I had to call my mom and ask her to mail the original back to me so I could figure out how I did it.